How the US Army Won The Spanish-American War

in the last years of the 19th century tension was building in the Caribbean American newspapers are filled with grisly reports of Spanish atrocities against the people of Cuba who are struggling for Independence U.S businessmen and expansionist politicians also see practical opportunities in Spain's struggles great power status and an empire for the United States it's the Spanish-American War throughout the 19th century the United States became interested in increasing its influence over the nearby island of Cuba Spain had ruled the island for centuries but by the 1800s Spain was a power in decline in the 1810s most former Spanish colonies in the Americas gained independence but not Cuba and Washington worried that another European power might sweep in and seize the territories so President James Monroe introduced what later became known as the Monroe Doctrine in 1823 the U.S pledged to protect the political status quo in the Americas American businessmen looked to Cuba's economic potential as well especially Southern cotton and sugar plantation owners in the following decades Cubans rose up in several revolutions against Spanish rule often under the slogan of Cuba Libre free Cuba Spain sent tens of thousands of troops to suppress them as U.S interest in Cuba increased so did tensions with Spain the U.S offered to by the island on several occasions and newspapers and school textbooks portrayed Spain as backward and cruel in 1873 war was barely avoided after Spanish authorities executed 58 Sailors including U.S citizens for alleged gun running in support of the Cuban revolutionaries in 1895 Cubans again rose up against Spanish rule this time under leaders Jose Marti Maximo Gomez and Antonio maseo who had founded the Cuban revolutionary party from the U.S a few years earlier they and many Islanders were unhappy with Spanish corruption economic decline partially caused by U.S tariffs on sugar and the suspension of civil liberties the rebels used scorched Earth and Guerrilla tactics ambushing Spanish troops and putting plantations to the torch to force the Spanish to leave the strategy seemed to be working as Spanish Captain General Martinez Campos admitted [Music] I have failed but no force can crush this Rebellion there is a spirit at work here which defies the bayonet I predict that soon this island will be lost to us forever in response the Spanish sent General valediano whose repressive tactics earned him the nickname The Butcher through his policy of reconcentration one hundred thousand Cubans would die in filthy and disease-ridden camps the U.S tabloid media the so-called yellow press covered the atrocities both real and imagined in grisly detail New York Journal owner William Randolph Hearst responded to criticism that his paper exaggerated Spanish actions it would be difficult to exaggerate conditions in Cuba we merely took a little dramatic license our editors were only serving the interests of the public Americans hate Spain so we gave them something to Stew about so Cuba was wracked by Revolution and Spanish repression while the United States looked on many Americans demanded action but Washington was hesitant when President William McKinley was elected in 1897 he favored a diplomatic solution the same year McKinley became president a more liberal Spanish government came to power in Madrid they were called General Whaler and promised reforms in Cuba to calm critics in Spain and in the U.S ignia a blacksmith from San Adriano reported on scenes that he witnessed in Spain that showed the impact of the war yesterday I was in biho to buy some necessary stuff and saw a horrible scene at the Port it was covered in coffins that were being unloaded from the ships how many people will have to die before this damn war that is harming the nation so much will end at this point though the Cuban revolutionaries were no longer responsive to vague Spanish Promises of Reform and they demanded full Independence the crisis rapidly came to a head in 1898 in early February hearst's newspapers released a leaked Memo from the Spanish ambassador to the U.S which was starkly critical of President McKinley McKinley is a weak bidder for the admiration of the crowd a would-be politician who tries to leave the door open behind himself while keeping on good terms with the jingos of his party but even more incendiary was the sinking of a U.S ship the main in the port of Havana some Americans suspected the ship was sunk by the Spanish but in reality it probably sank because of an internal explosion in any case the combination of 269 U.S lives lost on the Main and the Diplomatic insult piled pressure on McKinley he resisted calls for war but business owners media pundits and other politicians demanded action assistant Secretary of the Navy and future president Theodore Roosevelt did not hold back in his criticism of McKinley McKinley has the backbone of a chocolate eclair the president was facing a potential Rebellion within his own Republican party so he gave in to the pressure on April 11th he asked Congress for authorization to intervene and sent Spain an ultimatum demanding the troops evacuate Cuba and give up Spanish sovereignty over the island the Spanish accepted some points of the ultimatum but they refused on the issue of Cuban Independence on April 21st 1898 the U.S started a blockade of Cuba so the Spanish declared war on the United States April 23rd the U.S also declared war two days later what Senator John Hay would describe as a quote Splendid little war had begun so the Cuban crisis led to the start of the Spanish-American war in April 1898. America was at War but its goals were not yet entirely clear and the U.S military was not entirely prepared American leaders argued about what they wanted to achieve from the war against Spain expansionists suggested the U.S Annex Spanish possessions but anti-imperialists opposed this idea eventually Senator Henry teller demanded an amendment denying any U.S intention to Annex Cuba this move angered expansionists but Congress approved it with little opposition regardless of U.S war aims and high public expectations the actual military situation was less promising for the Americans in April 1898 the U.S army had just 28 000 men and the larger state militias were poorly trained and not suitable for overseas Duty as a result the government announced a huge military spending increase and a call for volunteers the war department wanted 125 000 new troops but by August 290 000 had signed up one of the most famous volunteers was Teddy Roosevelt himself he resigned his Navy position to join the first volunteer Cavalry known as the Rough Riders U.S officer John H Parker described the unusual nature of the unit the Rough Riders were the most unique aggregation of fighting men ever gathered together in any arm there were Cowboys Bankers Brokers Merchants City clubmen and Society dudes commended by a doctor second in command a literary politician but every man determined to get into the fight the flood of U.S volunteers also created problems training camps became overcrowded spreading diseases like typhus and scarlet fever equipping all the men was also an issue although federal troops had adopted the modern norwegian-designed bolt-action Crag Jurgensen rifle many U.S soldiers were still equipped with the obsolete m1873 trapdoor Springfield which fired black powder cartridges there was also a lack of tropical equipment so some soldiers wore Woolen winter uniforms meanwhile the Spanish had 130 to 160 000 men although there was a great Divergence in morale and in training but the Spaniards were armed with the excellent m1893 Mauser rifle and smokeless ammunition and had far more experience in Cuban conditions armies take time to train and mobilize and so immediate attention turned to the Navies with the U.S Navy blockading the Island's Spanish Admiral Pasquale cerbera etopete sailed for Cuba from Cadiz despite the strong Spanish Naval tradition Admiral ferbera was not optimistic about his chances the U.S Navy had rapidly expanded and modernized in recent years with steel-plated Cruisers and battleships faster and better armed than anything that the Spanish had do we owe to our country not only our life if necessary but the exploitation of our beliefs I am very uneasy about this I ask myself if it is right to make myself an accomplice in an adventure which will surely cause the total ruin of Spain and for what purpose to defend an island which was ours but belongs to us no more to lose all our wealth and an enormous number of young men in the defense of what is now no more than a romantic idea the Spanish and U.S navies were on a collision course in the Caribbean but the first shots of the war at Sea would end up being fired 16 000 kilometers away near a different Spanish possession in a different ocean the Philippine Islands had been a Spanish colony since the 1570s and also saw a series of uprisings in the 19th century as well as the growth of a short-lived peaceful independent movement known as La Liga Filipina unlike Cuba however before the war the islands received little U.S attention as President McKinley admitted to a reporter I can't tell you within 500 miles where the Philippine Islands are located and what's more I don't care they are of no concern to the United States however Manila with its large natural Harbor was home to the Spanish Asiatic Fleet a Potential Threat to U.S interests according to Washington even before the declaration of war Commodore George Dewey's U.S Asiatic fleet was ordered to prepare for operations and contact potential allies among the Filipinos in 1896 a Revolt of largely tagalog-speaking Filipinos broke out in luson under the command of Emilio aguinaldo after a bloody Guerrilla campaign the Spanish cut a deal with the rebel leader in exchange for 850 000 over 30 million dollars in today's money and Promises of Reform aguinaldo went into Exile but by 1898 only half the money had been paid no reforms had been implemented and so he continued to agitate rebels in the Philippines from abroad do we now contacted aguinaldo and asked him to help a U.S Invasion aguinaldo accepted but the terms of their agreement would cause long-term issues aguinaldo claimed that Dewey and Colonel wood promised him a Filipino Republic after Victory the Americans later said they made no such promise and historians are still divided on the issue regardless by late April 1898 aguinaldo was contacting his Fighters for a renewed attack while Dewey moved against the Spanish Fleet in Manila like his Atlantic counterparts the Spanish Commander Admiral Patricio montoho was pessimistic his fleet was decrepit with just two protected Cruisers five unprotected Cruisers and five gunboats although he had the protection of coastal guns and the harbor his Minds were defective and the U.S guns outranged his montoho expected defeat so he planned to fight in shallow water as he explained to a colleague when the americanos sink our ships the masts will protrude out of the water our Sailors can climb to the top and wait in safety until rescued otherwise everyone might drown in the early hours of May 1st Dewey's four protected Cruisers and two gun boats slipped into Manila Harbor where they engage the Spanish at 5 40 am the Spanish ships opened fire with an ineffective broadside after which the U.S ships returned fire the Americans attacked the Spanish Fleet five times and the Spanish Flagship Reyna Christina even tried to charge the U.S vessels but was racked by American Fire by mid-morning the one-sided battle was over some Spanish ships ran themselves ashore and overall 381 Spaniards were killed or wounded U.S casualties are not entirely clear but were very low some claim only one American sailor died and that from a heart attack Dewey's victory was the first of the war for the U.S and made him into a national hero but he couldn't occupy Manila privately many U.S officers were disappointed with their performance of the roughly 6 000 shells that they'd fired only 145 hit their targets by mid-may the U.S was building up an invasion force in San Francisco but the other powers were quicker before the U.S Fleet arrived British French German and Japanese ships arrived to observe the situation and potentially take advantage of any Spanish loss of control so with the Spanish Asiatic Fleet defeated and Manila surrounded attention shifted back to Cuba by May 19th Admiral ferbera slipped past the U.S Fleet and entered Santiago de Cuba Bay but then a U.S Fleet on the rear Admiral William T Samson trapped the Spanish in the bay which cleared the way for American amphibious Landings with the bulk of Spanish forces around Havana the U.S strategy would focus on an invasion of the Southeast coast between daikiri and siboney American troops could then join with Cuban Rebels and threaten the fleet in Santiago General William Shafter was in command of the U.S Invasion Force but at 140 kilograms and suffering from gout he was not an ideal choice for the tropical climate he did however have experience in the U.S Civil War and in the wars against Native Americans in early June U.S Marines established a coaling station at Guantanamo Bay before the main U.S Invasion Force arrived on June 22nd their Landings were uncontested with the only casualties resulting from accidents and instead the U.S troops were received by Cuban rebel commander calixto Garcia despite initial friendly greetings relations quickly soured the Cubans were in a more difficult State than the Americans expected them to be based on U.S media illustrations many officers including Roosevelt were extremely critical the Cuban insurgents were a crew of as other tattered demalians as human eyes ever looked on armed with every kind of rifle in all stages of dilapidation it was evident at a glance that they would be of no use in serious fighting but it was hoped that they might be of service in scouting from a variety of causes however they turned out to be nearly useless even for that the Americans also thought that the Cubans were cowards since the rebels were reluctant to face the Spaniards in open battle Garcia protested against these charges in a letter to Shafter we are a poor ragged Army as ragged and poor as was the army of your forefathers in their Noble war for independence but like the heroes of Saratoga and Yorktown we respect our cause too deeply to disgrace it with barbarism and cowardice these American attitudes towards the Cuban Fighters are not fully Justified the rebels were mostly an irregular Guerrilla Force skilled at ambushes rather than assaults against entrenched Spanish troops despite Cuban misgivings Shafter ordered his troops toward the village of Las cuasimas on June 24th the Americans advanced in two columns regular troops on the road and the Rough Riders mostly As dismounted Cavalry moving through the jungle soon they ran into Spanish troops and a firefight ensued although the spaniard's smokeless powder gave them an edge in the fighting after a two-hour battle the Spaniards made a planned withdrawal as they did so Shafter who was a former confederate general reportedly shouted that he had to quote Damn Yankees on the Run the Americans had defeated the Spanish in the first Cuban combat but their commanders were divided Admiral Sampson wanted Shafter to clear the coastal batteries around Santiago for the Navy but instead Shafter decided to attack the city himself for Shafter speed was the key to taking Santiago since disease had already begun to spread among the U.S troops blocking the way to the city however were Spanish positions on the San Juan Heights the Spanish had fortified the village of elkanei and had prepared trenches block houses and artillery on Kettle Hill and San Juan Hill the U.S plan was for about 5 400 troops under Brigadier General Henry Lawton to attack elkane and force out the defenders in just two hours meanwhile the remainder of the force would attack the Heights and pin down any Spanish reinforcements on their way to elkane once through Lawton planned to pursue the retreating Spaniards all the way to Santiago on July 1st Lawton began the main attack at around 6 30 a.m but immediately it became clear that he'd underestimated the Spanish Defenders despite being outnumbered 10 to 1 the Spaniards held off U.S troops for eight hours with no breakthrough imminent more U.S troops moved in including the Rough Riders but artillery support was minimal most of the U.S guns were Obsolete and Spanish shrapnel had already suppressed several gun Crews and shot down an American observation balloon the U.S did have an experimental Dynamite gun which used compressed air-to-fire explosives but it was stuck in a nearby Gorge Spanish Sharpshooters and fire From The Trenches bogged down the advancing U.S troops as casualties mounted the Americans tried another novel weapon to break the deadlock Gatling guns on lightweight wheeled mounts U.S officers sent these 10 barreled hand-cranked automatic weapons up to the front to suppress the Spanish trenches the covering fire of the Gatling guns allowed U.S infantry to get within assaulting range of the Spanish positions and the sound of the rapid fire also raised U.S morale U.S lieutenant John Gatling gun Parker commanded the Gatling Detachment and later wrote florid praise for the weapon at this time the Gatling gun began to talk it spoke very valuable and eloquent orations which although not delivered in the Spanish language were well understood by our friends the enemy upon the hill at around 1 pm American forces stormed the hills the Rough Riders along with the African-American Buffalo Soldiers of the 9th and 10th Cavalry attacked Kettle Hill while the first division took on San Juan Hill they broke through the barbed wire entered the Spanish trenches and cleared them in close quarters fighting first Kettle Hill fell then San Juan which made the Spanish position in elkane impossible to hold Spanish counter-attacked in the afternoon but the intense U.S rifle and Gatling fire stopped them the surviving Spanish forces retreated to Santiago storming of the San Juan Heights also cemented Roosevelt's reputation as a daring war hero and the order to storm the hills is often attributed to him however although Roosevelt took part in the assault the actual order came from Lieutenant Colonel John Miley the U.S capture of the San Juan positions marked the end of significant fighting in Cuba on July 3rd Admiral terbera fearing assault from both land and sea attempted to escape the harbor but the superior U.S Navy destroyed his Fleet Spanish Lieutenant Joachim bustamente recalled the effect of the American Guns one shell cut the Bose Swain in half and part of his body fell into the steering control line and as a result we lost partial Rudder control and had to clear the body from the steering control line next a shell destroyed the steam Governor a third exploded on the poop deck magazine and destroyed it on the 17th Santiago surrendered after a short Siege although the Americans banned the Cuban Rebels from attending the surrender ceremony at Spanish requests the war in Cuba was over it cost 385 American and 800 Spanish lives in combat and about 5 000 Americans would eventually die from disease with Cuba secured for the United States American attention now shifted back to the Philippines in late June U.S troops captured the spanish-held island of Guam before landing 10 000 men at Cavite in the Philippines on July 1st the Spanish had tried to mobilize local civilians to support their cause but aguinaldo's Filipino Rebels had far more support and the Loyalty of many Filipino soldiers who were supposed to be serving Spain in fact at this point the rebels had already surrounded Manila but their relationship with the Americans was cool some U.S businessmen and politicians were calling for the annexation of the Philippines which worried the Filipinos a concerned aguinaldo ignored U.S advice and announced Filipino Independence on June 18th he also wrote to the U.S consul General I have read in the New York evening Journal that I am getting a big head and not behaving as I promised you in reply I ask why should America expect me to outline my policy present and future and fight blindly for her interests when America will not be frank with me tell me this am I fighting for annexation protection or Independence it is for America to say not me with relations worsening U.S General Wesley Merritt moved ahead without support from aguinaldo's insurgents by August 6th He was discussing surrender with the Spanish governor general Fermin Howden is Alvarez how Dennis wanted to surrender to the Americans but was concerned about punishment for not contesting the city in the end he requested a quasi-staged battle to give a pretense of resistance Merit agreed and on August 13th U.S guns bombarded an unmanned Spanish Fort even so in some places the fight was indeed real and six U.S troops and an unverified number of Spaniards were killed U.S volunteer Soldier George Telfer wrote about the charade we call it a comic Opera War there was really no need of killing anybody the Spanish Army code makes death the penalty for an officer who surrenders his post without a fight so you see there had to be a fight but it was not where it was likely to damage property in reality even this staged battle was unnecessary unbeknownst to both sides in Manila Spain and America had already signed a ceasefire in Washington in the final peace treaty signed in December Spain ceded Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States Cuba became independent although a U.S military Administration would oversee the island for the time being the U.S also bought the Philippines from Spain for 20 million dollars over 700 million dollars today and Spanish administrators would temporarily stay in place McKinley claimed that U.S control would bring infrastructure and peace to the islands although commercial interests concerns of other nations seizing the Philippines and McKinley's religious convictions more likely drove the decision so the United States had defeated Spain and acquired new territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific but many Filipinos were not interested in American rule the peace deal which excluded the Cubans and Filipinos was the last straw for Filipino Rebel aguinaldo on January 23 1899 aguinaldo approved the Constitution for an independent Philippine Republic and Filipino forces around Manila rose up against The Americans on February 4th aguinaldo was clear as to his reasons it is my unavoidable duty to maintain the Integrity of the National Honor and that of the army so unjustly attacked by those who posing as our friends and liberators attempted to dominate Us in place of the Spaniards the revolutionaries were no match for U.S forces but they retreated into the mountains and began to wage a guerrilla War by summer 35 000 U.S troops were attempting to suppress the so-called Philippines Insurrection by June 1901 Filipino Fighters had launched 1 000 attacks against U.S forces U.S soldier George Telfer described the nature of the Jungle fighting the enemy open up on us we would lay down and fire then get up in advance as we Advanced the enemy would retire and it became a foot race the native can run faster than we can and we could not get within a thousand yards of him we halted every half hour and rested we burned every house we passed this kind of U.S repression became commonplace General Jacob Smith ordered his troops to turn Lucan into a quote howling Wilderness by moving civilians into concentration camps American troops arrested military-aged Filipino men some of whom they summarily executed in March 1901 U.S forces captured aguinaldo himself his movement had been defeated and his own reputation damaged because he executed rival revolutionary leaders he took an oath of allegiance to the United States and disbanded the Philippine Republic Republican Filipinos though continued to resist U.S rule into 1902 while a separate rebellion of Muslim Filipinos continued even longer the Philippine conflict claimed the lives of 5 000 U.S troops 20 000 Filipino revolutionaries and 250 000 Filipino civilians many from disease and starvation the Spanish-American war was short and one-sided but it had important consequences for Cubans it meant a fragile Independence weakened by Decades of U.S military interventions for the Philippines it meant nearly 50 years of American rule the war also saw the end of the remnants of Spain's once Global Empire they even sold their remaining Pacific island possessions to Germany in 1899. some Spanish intellectuals of the so-called generation of 98 promoted liberal reforms for the country after the war while many Military Officers turned to more conservative views as a result of the defeat the United States came out of the war much more confident on the world stage and it felt free to intervene in the Americas whenever it saw fit some even felt that the war brought the country closer together after the Civil War and racial Strife of the previous decades although these divisions persisted America also had a new overseas Empire one that companies like Bethlehem Steel and the United Fruit Company would prove eager to profit from under the protection of the U.S military in the eyes of some America had come of age for others it was the beginning of the age of American Empire one of the reasons we made this video is because we wanted to show how the Spanish-American War catapulted the United States onto the world stage this was a U.S Global presence that would expand greatly by 1945 and the end of World War II when the U.S fought in the Philippines again and of course also in Europe speaking of which we made a five episode three and a half hour documentary series about the Allied Rhineland campaign called rhineline 45 where we show the Allied push into Germany and the last set-piece battle on the Western Front in World War II we even visited the battlefields and interviewed a German veteran plus we collaborated with experts like David Willey from the tank Museum and Christopher Bergs from military aviation history we didn't pull any punches and showed the war in a way that's not possible on YouTube so if you want to see rhineline 45 you can watch it on nebula nebula is a streaming service that we've built with other creators where we don't have to worry about hard hitting content getting demonetized we want to thank Mark Newton for his help with this episode as usual you can find all our sources for the episode in the video description below I'm Jesse Alexander and this is the Great War a production of real-time history and the only YouTube History Channel that would love to have a sweet tasty and delicious backbone made of chocolate eclair [Music] foreign [Applause]

Channel: The Great War

Views: 1,118,857

Keywords: History, World War 1, WW1, First World War, Documentary, Documentary Series, The Great War, Indy Neidell, 1919, Interwar Period, 1920s, Educational, Russian Civil War, Revolution, Interbelum

Id: EE81py34A58

Length: 30min 35sec (1835 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 09 2022